History of Shampoo – You Probably Didn’t Know

While standing under the shower and cleansing your locks, did you ever give a thought – how was shampoo invented?

Even before your favourite hair-care product was created, readily available ingredients like the animal fat, vegetables and minerals were used as Natural Shampoo For Dry Hair.

Now that you are a little inquisitive let’s explore the History of Shampoo – You Probably Didn’t Know.

4000 B.C.

Only the upper strata of the society began to have cosmetic routines like hairstyling, bathhouses, etc.

3000 B.C.

People started believing that only cleanliness separated the humans from the animals. The Babylonian Court bathrooms with provision for water and soap, made from animal fats and ashes, stand as a witness to this.

1500 B.C.

Egyptians started harvesting Lotus plants for essential oils, and combined them with animal and vegetable oils, alkaline salts for making soap-like material for bathing and washing clothes and utensils.

The Middle Ages

It would be apt to say that the middle ages saw a CLEANLINESS revolution all over across the globe.

800 A.D.

In (Aleppo) Syria, olive oil, water, sweet bay oil and lye were heated together, and then let to cool down. They were then cut and left for about seven months to age.

1100 A.D.

European Crusaders found Aleppo Soap, raided it in bulk and started exploring ways to make it.

1200 A.D.

Soap making became a practice in Spain, Italy and Europe. The Castile city of Italy became famous for its Castile soap amongst the European and Spanish royalties.

1500 A.D.

Castile soap reached England from Europe. Various hair stylists added herbs to give it fragrance and use it as shampoo. But the soap had many drawbacks. It was irritating to the eyes and could not dissolve in water quickly.

1800 A.D.

The colonial leaders discovered the concept of hair and body massage in India, called Champi. This concept was introduced as Champing in Europe.

1898

Hans Schwarte Protz opened a drugstore with perfumes and made water soluble, powder shampoo. The shampoo though convenient to use caused various alkaline reactions.

1900

Frenchman Edouard Pinaud created ‘brilliantine’, a conditioner that could soften the beard and moustaches.

Interesting Facts About Shampoo:

• Much before the advent of Shampoo and other toiletries in 1800’s, Slidell’s soap was used for everything from cleaning the hair and body to the toilet. It was one of the leading products of that time.

• The word Shampoo is derived from the Indian word Champu that means massage or press.

• Do you know that in Japan Robots can apply shampoo to your hair? The Robot scans the scalp and determines the range in which it needs to apply pressure. After that, it uses eight fingers to massage the scalp.

• In India, during the 1500s, soap berries were boiled with Indian gooseberry and other herbs. This melange created an extract that formed lather and resulted in soft and shiny strands.

• In Indonesia, husk and straw ashes were mixed with water to create a lather that was used as Shampoo. However, this concoction left the hair dry. Later, coconut oil was applied to moisturise the dry strands.

• Commercially shampoo was available only in the 20th century. Until then people did not know the best ways of applying shampoo. Thus, in May 1908, The New York Times published its first article on how to shampoo your hair.